Leavenworth announces teachers of the year

Saturday

Apr 5, 2014 at 8:00 AM

Leavenworth public school officials are hoping for a repeat.Leavenworth High School teacher Jeff Baxter was named the 2014 Kansas Teacher of the Year. Now, district officials have announced the educators who will represent Leavenworth in the 2015 Kansas Teacher of the Year competition.

By John Richmeierjrichmeier@leavenworthtimes.com

Leavenworth public school officials are hoping for a repeat.

Leavenworth High School teacher Jeff Baxter was named the 2014 Kansas Teacher of the Year. Now, district officials have announced the educators who will represent Leavenworth in the 2015 Kansas Teacher of the Year competition.

Beth Riccio and Kathryn Schiller learned Thursday they had been selected as Leavenworth teachers of the year.

Riccio, a seventh-grade science teacher at Richard Warren Middle School, was selected as the district's Secondary Teacher of the Year. Schiller, a fourth-grade teacher at Anthony Elementary School, was picked as the district's Elementary Teacher of the Year.

They will advance to the regional level of the Kansas Teacher of the Year competition with a chance to move to the state level contest.

Riccio has been with the Leavenworth school district for 27 years.

She said she decided to become a science teacher because she wanted to help others find something big to do.

"I wanted to pay it forward," she wrote in her application for Teacher of the Year.

She estimates she's had about 3,000 middle school students during her career.

Early in her career, Riccio thought she eventually would move up to the high school level and teach biology.

"I have had the opportunity and invitation to move up a couple of times, but I have come to understand that it is my job to convince the middle students that they like science and that they are good at it," she wrote in her application.

Schiller has been teaching for 28 years, the last 11 in Leavenworth.

Schiller said she has always wanted to be an elementary teacher.

"Even today, after 28 years, I believe that my calling is teaching," she wrote in her application.

She wrote that the ultimate reward for her as a teacher is the success and happiness of her students.

"Every day I have the opportunity to make a difference," she wrote. "I instill hope in children and help them to see the unlimited possibilities they have in front of them."

Riccio and Schiller were selected as Leavenworth teachers of the year after being picked as finalists at their respective schools.

"Each building runs their own selection process," said Jake Potter, director of public relations for the school district.

He said three-member panels selected the two teachers who will represent the district in the Kansas Teacher of the Year program.